Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo
Inmates and contestants in Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Monday, 12, Oct 2009 10:31
Showing at the London Film Festival on October 27th (18:15, 20:45), October 28th (19:00) and October 29th (16:15)
General release not yet confirmed
By Lewis Bazley.
Set in the bruising and fleetingly joyous world of the prison rodeo and with a Byrds-inspired title, Bradley Beesley's documentary reveals incredible stories among the drug-ravaged incarcerated lives of the female inmates of Oklahoma penal institutions.
Allowed since 2006 to compete in the annual state-wide prison rodeo - one of the only remaining forms of this peculiarly American cultural nugget - Beesley's subjects seek an unorthodox shot at redemption among their potentially fatal encounters with riled up broncos and bulls.
Everyday stories of family dysfunction sit alongside the broken lives of the female inmates and if you're not choking back tears when 'Foxie' finds a resolution to her search for a family, your heart may have stopped beating. It might be accurate to suggest that the filmmakers handpicked the prisoners with the most involving backstories - the main male inmate Danny, a life prisoner and 13-year rodeo veteran, undermines audience assumptions with his matter-of-fact assessments of his time inside - but that doesn't lessen the tale in the telling, with the impact of crystal methamphetamine addiction repeatedly underlined in the too-much-too-young lessons of the inmates and hopeful rodeo competitors.
While never flinching from the problems of Oklahoma - it has a female incarceration rate more than twice the national average, many of whom are victims of a tumble into the destructive world of meth - Beesley also never judges the women, each of whom is honest enough to admit their mistakes, and desperate for the brief feeling of freedom provided by the rodeo.